Quick and random musings

I'm hitting the wide open road tomorrow so I can go see some friends and then go see my parents/little brother/dogs for a couple of days before the College World Series takes over my every minute. But here are a few things, in my beloved numbered list form:

1. So, how about that Mike Aviles? Well, except for today*. I loved the other night as he was standing on second after his first big-league hit. You could tell he was trying SO hard not to smile, as if it was just another hit, business as usual. After a few seconds of that charade, the glorious face-splitting grin couldn't stay inside much longer, and it was just...cute. I love those grown-men-being-reduced-to-little-boy moments that baseball gives us so abundantly.

Seeing Aviles get intentionally walked to set up the Guillen grand slam yesterday was one of the most delightful things I think I've ever seen. Not only is it more fuel to the flame of people who are annoyed by IBBs, but the mere thought of Andy Pettite, a likely HoFer, pitching around Mikey in his 7th big-league at-bat is hilarious. Then Guillen did the most un-babylike thing possible with the situation.

*not that I could see how he did today, because Cox doesn't care about Royals fans enough to televise all the games they're supposed to. It's a problem for them to institute a tiny surcharge to accommodate those extra broadcasts that a lot of people would like to watch, but it is not a problem for them to institute HUGE rate increases so two people can watch HGTV in HD while seeing caller ID on their TV screens. We love paying for useless garbage that no one will use, instead of getting something useful and entertaining.

2. I came halfway to having a lifelong dream fulfilled yesterday. Carlos Rosa pitched four perfect innings and was not really showing any signs of letting down, but then a bunch of stupid rain came, and there was an hour and seven minute-long delay, and of course by that time they didn't send Rosa back out, so the dream of seeing a PG were shattered. Not only that, but Omaha went on to lose the game anyway. On that note...

3. I couldn't be happier to be done with the Iowa Cubs for a while. The O-Royals are just 2-6 against the Cubbies so far, and many of the losses were of the heartbreaking variety. (However, I will miss the crowds that the Cubs series always bring. Those crowds have some great energy!)

4. I will have my first actual professional baseball writing gig for this year's College World Series. During that time, I probably won't write here much (if at all) but I will post links to whatever I write for Baseball Prospectus. (Yes, them. Woo!)

5. Glad to see Jeff Fulchino called up to the bigs (the first-ever ex-Natural to make it there), and to see that he was effective in today's game. I wonder how Joel Peralta will react to being demoted; he really didn't like it the first time this year but responded by not allowing a run in his time with Omaha. I hope he does the same thing; some more scoreless relief would be dandy.

6. I would love to have written more, but I need sleep. Earlier when I sat down on my living room floor to fire up my laptop, I noticed that the carpet was soaking wet. After some severe weather last night and a bunch on other recent nights, it seems that maybe my house's foundation has a leak, because the water was definitely coming up from under the carpet, rather than having been spilled on to it. This is disturbing because I have a specific fear of water-related accidents that stems from the time a toilet* in my childhood home literally split apart and flooded a big chunk of the house.

*No, a pipe didn't burst; the toilet tank itself just inexplicably split open, so as the tank kept trying and trying to re-fill itself, hundreds of gallons of water spilled down into the TV room below that bathroom, and then the room below that. I still freak out at the possibility of more flooding in the 4 places I've lived since then.

7. From the Heartwarming Stories Department: Lady Andrea at Ladies... writes about how the NFL has pitched in to help a tornado-ravaged town in her area.

8. Two of my brothers and I have recently started joining in the in-game open threads at Royals Review. For me, it feels like a support group. I can never have enough bitter-yet-optimistic, snarky, clever Royals fans around. I don't know why we didn't start doing those things much sooner.

Thanks for sticking around while I haven't been writing much. I love you all dearly. On that note, if you find yourself at an O-Royals game, feel free to come say hello! A while back, reader 'mike in omaha' introduced himself, and it was delightful to meet someone outside of my family who reads this here site.